How to Cook Sweet Potatoes in the Instant Pot

Wondering how to best cook sweet potatoes in your instant pot/electric pressure cooker? It’s incredibly easy and they come out perfectly buttery every time! These are great as a healthy holiday side, or as an everyday side dish for THM E/XO meals, Whole30 or to round out any healthy family meal.

The first time I cooked an entire sweet potato, I couldn’t believe how long it took. I baked it in foil in the oven and after 45 minutes, it was still raw in the middle 🙈

Ever since the dawn of the miraculous Instant Pot (ha!), I’ve been pressure cooking them instead. It’s so fast and easy and they are always perfect. I love them with my THM E or XO meals, and they are wonderful for meal prep as well – if you’re one of those super organizationally inclined people.

You will actually not cook the sweet potatoes in the pressure cooker (as in, they are not submerged in water), but rather steam them on the standard rack that comes with the Instant Pot. Makes the potatoes tender and buttery, but not watery! Now let’s get to the recipe:

Ingredients you’ll need

All you need to cook your sweet potatoes in the instant pot: Sweet potatoes, water and your instant pot with the standard steaming rack!

You’ll want to make sure to use about the same size sweet potatoes to cook together. I go for average thickness vs weight, because a long skinny sweet potato cooks much faster vs a short and thick one. Even if they weigh the same.

My sweet potatoes measured about 9.25 inches around their thickest part. That’s the size potato I wrote this recipe for.

Step by step instructions

First, we’ll place our steaming rack in the inner pot. Just use the one that came with your instant pot! And add 1 cup of water.

Then, add the sweet potatoes on top of the rack.

It’s perfectly fine to stack the sweet potatoes! Just make sure they don’t spill over the “maximum fill line” so you can still comfortably close and seal the lid.

Make sure to set the pressure valve securely to the “sealing” position. Unless you have one of those fancy new models, then seal the valve according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Set your instant pot to “pressure cook” (or “manual” on models even older than the one I own) and set the timer to 15 minutes.

It will take about 10 minutes for the instant pot to come to pressure, then it will start counting down the 15 minutes. Once the cooking time is up, just switch the instant pot off and let the pressure release naturally. This will take about another 10 minutes.

Then you can open the lid! But avert your face, full steam ahead.

Be super careful when you remove the sweet potatoes – they are blisteringly hot. I always use kitchen tongs and pray they don’t drop and splatter hot potato everywhere.

Better have a plate ready right next to the instant pot and hand the baby to someone else if you can – removing the sweet potatoes from the pot is probably the hardest part of this recipe, haha!

Recipe tips

• Whatever you do, don’t peel the sweet potatoes before adding them to the instant pot. You need their skin to hold them together, or you’ll end up with a pot full of watery sweet potato mash.
• If your sweet potatoes measure much more or much less than 9 inches around their thickest part, you’ll need to adjust the cooking time to cook longer for larger potatoes and shorter for smaller potatoes.
• If you’re using a different model than the standard 6 quart instant pot, you’ll need to check your manufacturer’s instructions for minimum liquid requirements and follow those guidelines exactly.
• Do NOT skip releasing the pressure naturally. If you’re in a hurry and some pressure is remaining after waiting for 10 minutes, go ahead and manually release the remaining pressure. However, it is best to wait until the pressure has fully released naturally, or the sweet potatoes may burst.

Make ahead tips

You can cook your sweet potatoes ahead of time for easier meal prep. Once the cooking and steam releasing process has finished, remove them from the instant pot and allow them to cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes, or until they have stopped steaming (they’ll heat up your fridge too much otherwise!).

Then, pack them into food storage containers, close the lid and refrigerate for up to 4 days.

You can reheat them in bursts in the microwave, or bake them at 350°F for about 15-20 minutes or until hot.

Serving suggestions

We mostly just split these open and eat them with a fork as a starchy side dish. My husband and kids will slather on the butter and sea salt, and I will too if I’m eating a THM crossover 😉 For an E meal, I either leave off the butter or use a tiny pat.

If you want to avoid dairy, coconut butter or a drizzle of olive oil with a sprinkling of sea salt are extremely delicious, too!

More healthy side dishes

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